


Road to Recovery

by garbage_will_do



Series: Break and Mend [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Episode: s03e07 Currents, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Sheriff Stilinski Finds Out, Slow (Re)Build, cuz I suck at writing slow build, which I seem to do a lot, which doesn't mean anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-20
Updated: 2013-07-20
Packaged: 2017-12-20 18:02:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/890213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garbage_will_do/pseuds/garbage_will_do
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Picks up right after <em>Heartbreak Hotel</em>, so you should read that first.</p><p> </p><p>The pack can tell there's something wrong with Stiles and Derek, but really have no clue. Oh, and the threat of Kali is looming over their heads.</p><p> </p><p> ***Spoilers for 3x07 in Notes***</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was really surprised by the response my last story got, and since so many of you asked for more I've decided to make this a series.
> 
> And I know a lot of people are doing RIP Boyd fics, but I feel many missed the opportunity for a telling-the-Sheriff fic.
> 
> For those of you that asked, you have received. Enjoy!

***Scott***

It was odd that Stiles didn't stick around after he checked on Derek. When Scott asked him later that night, Stiles just said he had some homework to finish up and that he had to make dinner for his dad. He didn't really question any further, because it didn't seem like he was lying or seem out of character for Stiles. Derek's loft was oddly quiet without him there, though.

It was also odd on Monday that Stiles entire demeanor changed around Ms. Blake. He glared at her all through class, and Scott couldn't help but notice the smell of hurt and anger coming off of him in waves. But Scott ignored this, too, because Stiles was probably in one of his moods after what happened over the weekend. He really couldn't blame him, since he was the cause of a lot of that stress.

However, it wasn't until Isaac and then Boyd said something that he started to worry. "Hey, man, you okay?" he asked after practice.

Stiles looked up at him distractedly as he finished getting out of his cross-country gear. "What? Oh, yeah, dude. I'm fine."

"You sure? I mean, you just seem a little off, is all..."

Stiles slammed his locker closed and picked up his backpack, swinging it around his shoulders. "Yeah, no. I'm good. Really. I've just got a lot on my mind is all."

"Oh, right. Of course." Scot finished packing up and slammed his locker shut. "You coming to Derek's later? We were all gonna meet and see if we can come up with a way to beat the Alphas."

"No, I can't. My dad's home tonight, and I promised we'd spend some quality time together. Plus I'm pretty much the only one working on the whole darach thing, you know?"

"Yeah, dude. I totally get it."

 

***Isaac & Boyd* **

Derek was moping. That was really the only word for it. Well, actually, pining was good, too. But pining for what?

Isaac, always the sensitive one, was the first to approach the Alpha. "Hey, Derek? Are you okay?"

Derek sighed. "Not really, Isaac." And that was how the beta knew something was _really_ wrong. Derek hardly opened up about what he was feeling, although with the search for Boyd and Erica over the summer, he had started opening up to him. But now it seemed something else had shaken him.

"Well, you know I'm here if you ever want to talk, right? I'm a pretty good listener."

Derek smiled at him a little sadly. "I know. But I don't think this is something you can help with." The Alpha went back to staring out the floor to ceiling windows.

The next day, when Isaac and Boyd noticed Stiles' strange behavior, neither made the connection with Derek's strange behavior.

"Scott." Boyd pulled the teenager aside just before practice, and Isaac was right there with him. "What's up with Stiles today?"

"I don't know. He's been really quiet all day and he was acting really weird around Ms. Blake."

"Ms. Blake?" Isaac asked. "Why would he be weird around her?"

"I don't know, but he was glaring at her like I've never seen him do to anyone before. I mean, he didn't even look at Jackson or Gerard like that."

Just then, Coach Finstock yelled at them to get their butts in gear. As Isaac and Scott ran off, Boyd yelled after them. "Hey, we're meeting at the loft later, don't forget!"

 

***Peter & Cora***

The betas filed into the loft one-by-one, starting with Cora around lunch time, and ending with Scott after he'd dropped off dinner for his mom at the hospital. Peter, of course, was the one to comment on the one person that wasn't there.

"And where is that annoying human that always has a plan?"

Derek shot him a glare - which wasn't that unusual - but pointedly didn't look around the room for Stiles - which, considering Derek's recent need to know where everyone was, was unusual. Peter narrowed his eyes at this nephew as Scott said, "He's hanging out with his dad tonight, and he and Lydia are trying to figure out who the darach could be."

The subject of Stiles' whereabouts were dropped quickly in favor of plans to stop Kali, and later as Peter was leaving for his own  apartment, Cora pulled him aside.

"What's wrong with my brother?" she growled, her eyes flashing.

Peter glanced up to see Derek back to staring out his giant window forlornly. "How would I know? He and I aren't exactly on the best speaking terms."

"Look. All I know is when I came over earlier, he was doing the exact same thing, and he didn't move for _hours_. When I talked to Isaac and Boyd, they said he was like this last night, too. So what the Hell changed between the fight Friday night, and last night to make him all... lost puppy."

Peter looked up and scrutinized Derek again. "I don't know."

The next night was a lot of the same. The betas throwing out ideas, and either Derek or Peter shooting them down at the sheer absurdity of some of them - though, it was mainly Peter because Derek was still quieter than was normal even for him. Stiles - and Peter grudgingly accepted that the human came up with the best plans, his hyperactive mind able to quickly think of most of the pros and cons - was missing once again, claiming homework and a 'study session' with Lydia to research the darach.

By the third night, it was getting ridiculous. Isaac suggested going to Ethan for help: "Well, he's the one who warned us in first place", and Scott was preaching his usual: "Can't we come up with anything else that doesn't involve killing?". Peter and Cora shared a look of exasperation because through every bizarre suggestion, Derek didn't say a word. Instead of even pretending to pay attention, the Alpha spent his time looking out the window and glancing at the metal door as if he expected someone to walk through at any moment. At first, Peter assumed it was him being hyper-vigilant about the looming threat, but he caught the tail end of a conversation between Scott and Isaac about Stiles.

"I don't know, dude. He's being really quiet, and he's getting super focused on this whole dark druid thing. But mostly it's the quiet that's freaking me out. It's like the canary in the coal mine, you know? I feel like something bad is gonna happen."


	2. Chapter 2

Peter stuck around that night, waiting until everyone but Cora had left to confront Derek. "This is about Stiles, isn't it?"

Cora looked at him in surprise, and Derek finally looked at another living, breathing person for the first time that day to stare at his uncle incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"This," Peter said, waving his hand at Derek. "This whole silent brooding, 'boo-hoo, poor me', self-pity party you've got going on lately. It all traces back to Stiles."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"No? I'm not stupid, nephew. I know how to connect the dots."

Derek shook his head and turned back to the window. "Just leave me be, Peter. Just go home."

"No. No, I won't. Because you're freaking out your betas, Derek, because you don't seem to care if Kali comes and kills you or not. Plus Scott is extra freaked out because _Stiles_ is _quiet_." Derek looked at his feet as he leant back against the glass, arms crossed over his chest and looking guiltier than ever. "Now I don't know what happened between you two, but I suggest you fix it before everything falls apart."

"It's not something that can be fixed, Peter!"

"That's bullshit," Cora said. "How can it be so bad that can't be fixed?"

Derek sighed, wrapping his arms around himself a little tighter. "Stiles and I got together over the summer. He was here helping look for Boyd and Erica, spending the night when he stayed too late and his dad was at work. And we were taking it slow because I'm not good with relationships."

"Obviously," Peter snorted.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Cora asked, genuinely confused.

"Oh, he didn't tell you? His last girlfriend burned down the house, and killed most of our family." Cora looked at her brother, horrified, but Derek wouldn't meet her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry. Please, continue regaling us with the story of your budding romance with a seventeen year old boy."

Derek glared at him, but continued. "With my injuries I went to the school to look for him, but the only fresh scent I recognized was the woman I saved on the full moon, who happens to be Stiles' English teacher. She brought me back here to heal, and after I slept for a couple hours... We had sex. The next morning I woke up confused, and aching, and regretting everything thing I could remember about the night before. And when Stiles came over, she was still here and he didn't give me a chance to explain anything before he said he never wanted to see me again and refused to ever help the pack again... So, no, it's not something I can fix." 

"Well, you're going to have to find a way, because as much as I hate to admit it, we need that kid right now," Peter said.

***

Derek went to the high school the next day, knowing that it was probably the safest place to try and talk to Stiles. He went to the lacrosse field where the coach was making the team run back and forth. Boyd and Isaac were the first to notice him standing at the edge of the field, and Isaac was the one to get Scott's attention. But the one person he was looking for wasn't there.

Scott glanced over at the coach to make sure he wasn't paying attention, then ran over to the Alpha. "Derek, what are you doing here?"

"Where's Stiles?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

Scott looked confused, but answered, "He's in detention."

And it was Derek's turn to be confused. "What did he get detention for?"

"Well, we were talking about _The Crucible_ in English" Derek took a deep breath, an idea where this was going "and we were discussing one of the characters, and then Stiles started talking about how Ms. Blake was just like her - calling her a slut and a witch... It was _weird_ , man."

Derek nodded. "Look, I'll go talk to him, okay? And I'll see if we can get him to come over tonight and tell us what he's found out about the darach." When Scott opened his mouth to protest, Derek added, "We don't have any solid ideas on how to deal with Kali, alright? So, let's work on the other thing going around killing people."

"Yeah, okay. Let me know how it goes, will you? I'm worried about him."

As Derek walked through the halls of the school, he debated what he would say to Stiles. The teenager hadn't been very willing to listen last time they saw each other, and no doubt he would refuse to listen now, but he still had to try.

Before he knew it, Derek was standing outside Ms. Blake's classroom, his instincts following Stiles' scent and heartbeat until he was only a few feet away. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in to the doorway and lightly knocked on the doorjamb to get the teacher's attention. Jennifer looked up in surprise; her heart beat picked up, and there was the faint scent of arousal when she recognized him.

The Alpha cleared his throat and awkwardly stuffed his hands into his leather jacket. "Can I talk to Stiles for just a minute?" The boy in question looked up at the sound of his voice, and if looks could kill... Well, he would be in a lot of pain. "Alone?"

Ms. Blake was hesitant, but she got up with a strained smile and said, "I'll just... be out in the hallway."

As soon as she left, the tension was so palpably thick it would have to be cut with an especially sharp knife. "What are you doing here, Derek?" Stiles asked, unknowingly echoing Scott's words.

"I just want to talk, Stiles."

"I thought I made it clear we were done talking."

"Stiles, please." Derek took a step towards the kid, ignoring the strong urge to flinch at the gaze fixed on him, and took another step. "Just give me a chance to explain." Eventually he stood within reach of the teenager, and he took the silence to mean he was being tolerated, even for a short time. So he quickly sat backwards in the desk in front of Stiles'.

"You don't need to explain, Derek. I know exactly what happened."

"No, you don't." At Stiles disbelieving look, he said, "I don't even know what happened that night." That seemed to shut the teenager up, so Derek continued. "After the fight, I crawled my way to school, looking for you or Scott, but you weren't here. So, I went to the only other scent I recognized for help, and I asked her to take me back to the loft."

"So, what? You slept with her to say thank you?" Stile sneered.

"Stiles... I barely remember sleeping with her, okay? I was still bleeding and healing, and she kissed me. The rest of the night is hazy at best." Stiles looked more worried now, than angry. "Look, I understand if you never trust me again, and you would rather leave me for dead the next time I'm hurt, but don't abandon your friends because of something I did."

Derek slowly stood, and glanced at the open door of the classroom before looking back at the kid he was on his way to loving, if he was being honest with himself. "Come over tonight, tell us what you've found out about the darach. Bring Lydia if you want. Just don't punish Isaac and Boyd and Scott for the mistake I made."

The Alpha was almost out the door when he heard, "I'll be over at seven."

***

When Stiles walked through the door at 6:59 carrying a folder, and with Lydia in tow, Peter and Cora exchanged a glance and a smirk. And while they could practically see the tension between him and Derek, they knew things were going to get better, if only for a little while.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the final chapter.

 

Stiles froze in the door to Derek's loft. The whole place was dark and the moonlight that shone through the huge window highlighted the painted  triskele and the ripples of water. He stepped hesitantly forward and froze again when he noticed Boyd's body was completely still. Cora ran around him, pushing him aside in her hurry, and that was what got his feet moving again.

Cora immediately ran to Boyd, and Stiles wondered for a moment if their time in the bank vault had made them more than just friends. He slowly approached Derek, who was soaked through with the water that flooded the loft, looking over his shoulder to where Cora was crying over Boyd's still form. Stiles reached out and grasped Derek's shoulder, and then gripped it tighter when he felt the Alpha relax into his touch.

The next thing Stiles saw was Derek's blood covered hands, and the way his hands were shaking. It took the teenager a second to realize the blood on his hands was Boyd's. By that time, Derek's whole body was shaking, whether because of the cold seeping into his skin from the water or because he had lost another of his betas.

Stiles quickly looked up to the door and saw Lydia hovering just outside. "Lydia," he called, aware that he needed to keep aloof to get everyone else through the night. He could break down later. "Lydia, call Scott, and find out if he saved Deaton. Then tell him to get over here ASAP... and to bring my dad."

"Are- Are you sure, Stiles? How are we going to-"

"Just do it, Lydia!" Lydia backed away, nodding. She pulled out her phone and dialed just before she went out of sight. Stiles then turned Isaac, who was still sitting with Ms. Blake in the doorway. "Isaac. Go get Derek some dry clothes. Socks, underwear, jeans, and a shirt." Isaac got up right away, sloshing his way through the water. "And get some towels while you're at it. No way are any of you guys getting water in my Jeep."

Stiles walked around Derek, kneeling in front of him and blocking his view of Boyd. "Derek," he said softly. "Derek, look at me." The Alpha's gaze slowly shifted to the teenagers face. "Tell me what happened."

Derek's eyes fell back down to his shaking hands, the streaks of red slowly drying brown. "I killed him. I killed Boyd."

Stiles could sense Derek was about to have a panic attack. "No. No, Derek, it wasn't your fault. Look at me." Stiles put his hands on Derek's cheeks to tilt his face up and look into his eyes. "This wasn't your fault, Derek. This was that bitch, Kali. Okay, Derek? Don't you dare blame yourself for this. Not when Isaac and Cora still need you. Not when _I_ still need you."

That confession seemed to get through the shock clouding the Alpha's mind, and Stiles just watched as his eyes cleared. Lydia was back from her call, and there was a pile of clothes and towels on the landing outside the door. Isaac was with Cora, mourning Boyd, and Stiles was a bit ashamed that he hadn't heard any of them moving around after he had focused on Derek.

"Stiles," he rasped, drawing the teenager's attention back to him. "I'm sorry. I just seem to hurt everyone around me."

"Shh." Stiles pulled Derek to him, wrapping him in his arms. "Don't talk."

That, of course, was how Scott and the Sheriff found them when they arrived, which was punctuated with Scott exclaiming, "Oh, my God" and Sheriff Stilinski demanding, "Somebody tell me what in the Hell is going on!"

***

They all met at Stiles' house, mainly because he thought familiar territory would help his dad accept what they were going to tell him more easily, but also because they all needed someplace to crash to deal with the events of the night. Lydia, Isaac and Scott rode in the Jeep with Stiles and Derek, and the Sheriff drove in his cruiser; Ms. Blake had disappeared at some point, but she wasn't really at the top of anyone's priorities. Cora stayed behind saying she would call Peter so they could take care of Boyd.

Stiles continued ordering people around when they arrived. Scott was put in charge of ordering pizza - though he doubted anyone was hungry, Lydia and Isaac were put in charge of finding everyone drinks, and the Sheriff was told very specifically to 'get the whiskey, have a seat, and be patient'. Stiles himself, took Derek to the upstairs bathroom to dry off, change, and wash the blood off his hands. The Alpha was practically catatonic by the time they went back downstairs, staring at everything around him blankly as Stiles led him with their fingers entwined. Their footfalls were soft as they walked across the carpet to the couch since both Stiles' converse and Derek's boots were drying in the bathroom.

Stiles sat on one side of the couch and used the connection of their hands to pull the Alpha down next to him. Derek immediately laid down with his head in the teenager's lap and stretched out along the rest of the cushions. Stiles' hand found his head and gently combed his finger through the damp strands of dark hair. Everyone was watching the exchange with interest except Isaac, who was content to just curl up on the floor under his Alpha.

Since the pizza was already on the coffee table and everyone was settled in their respective seats, Stiles finally turned his attention to his father in the armchair across from him. Taking a deep breath, he said, "So, Dad... Scott and I are going to tell you some things, and you'll think we're crazy, so I need you to just hear us out before you freak out, okay?"

The Sheriff studied his son, wondering when he grew up from the kid taking care of his only remaining parent, to a young man taking care of his friends like they were an extended family. "Is this why you had me get the whiskey?"

"Yeah. You're probably gonna need it." And then Stiles told him everything. He started with the truth about the Hale fire seven years ago and how an older Kate Argent seduced a sixteen year old Derek to get close and kill the whole family. That of course led to him explaining that most of the Hales were werewolves and that the Argents were a family of werewolf hunters. He explained the Code, and how Kate refused to follow it, and both Scott and Isaac were gracious enough to briefly shift to prove what he was talking about. 

He and Scott explained how Peter Hale killed his niece Laura to become an Alpha to get revenge on the people involved in the fire, and bit Scott to turn him the night they were out looking for the other half of Laura's body. And why all the killings could be explained away as 'animal attacks'. Then they told him about the final showdown on the Hale property, where Derek killed Peter and became an Alpha, and then bit Jackson, who was begging to be turned.

They explained that the bite went wrong somehow and Jackson turned into the kanima, with Matt as it's master, and how Jackson was killing everyone Matt told him to. And at the same time Derek turned Isaac, Erica, and Boyd to build his pack, Gerard Argent was declaring war on all werewolves because Kate was dead. Stiles told the Sheriff the truth about how all those officers really died that night at the police station, and how Gerard killed Matt to become the master of the kanima, and Peter somehow used Lydia to bring himself back to life. He also told him that the night of the championship game, it was the old man that took him and beat him up as a message to Scott.

Stiles explained that after they cured Jackson of being a homicidal lizard, his family decided to move to London, and the Argents took a vacation to France and decided to retire from hunting after Allison was brainwashed by her grandfather following her mother's death. And that brought them all back to a couple weeks ago, when people started dying again. So he explained the Alpha pack, and that there was some kind of dark druid going around making human sacrifices. He told him about the search for Boyd and Erica, and how they found them at the bank. How Erica was dead, and Boyd was kept with Cora in the vault and they were both moon-starved. How the first three sacrifices were virgins, the next three - including Harris - were soldiers, and the last three were healers - although Deaton had been saved. And they explained how it was they were able to find Deaton, and potentially future victims.

"What happened tonight?"

"Kali thought Derek killed Ennis, so she came to kill him. But Deaton said that it was Deucalion that killed him," Isaac said. "Boyd had the idea to flood the loft and run electrical current through it to kill Kali when she came, but they shut off the power. And at the end Derek was all wolfed out, and Kali just threw Boyd down on his claws."

"I killed him," the Alpha rasped, speaking for the first time in hours. "It's my fault."

Stiles quickly shushed him, his fingers brushing the fringe out of his face. "And what's happening with Boyd right now?" the Sheriff asked. Amazingly he was taking all of this very well, or as well as could be expected, and hadn't even touched the bottle of whiskey.

"Peter and Cora probably took his body out into the woods to make it look like an animal attack," Scott answered. "If not then they'll just bury him on the old Hale property with Erica."

"And what's going on with this?" the Sheriff asked, nodding at how Derek was literally curled into his son's side.

Feeling everyone's eyes on him made Stiles' fingers still in Derek's hair, and he sighed. "Derek and I are kind of... together," he said with a wince.

And unlike the outrage he expected from his dad, there was just a thoughtful look. Scott and Isaac looked confused, but Lydia just thought: _Well,_ that _explains a lot._ "What exactly does 'kind of' mean?"

"We were... dating over the summer. And then with everything happening we weren't really seeing each other... And also because when we all thought he was dead, he went to Ms. Blake for help and ended up sleeping with her, and I found out, so... We're kind of together," he finished, shrugging.

"Wait. He slept with our English teacher?" Trust Scott to pick up on the important details.

"Yeah, okay, but here's the weird thing about it," Stiles began. "He was still healing. Like he still had open wounds and was bleeding everywhere and she practically threw herself at him. Derek said he remembers everything through a haze of pain, but she definitely made the first move and she was the one to tell him not to call us and tell us he was alive." Stiles was waving his unoccupied hand around at this point. "Given all of that _and_ the fact that she had access to the students and teachers that were killed, _and_ she would have been able to put the wolfsbane in Coach's whistle, _and_ she was around when the birds attacked the school and when Boyd and Cora were moon-starved... I think she could be the darach."

Scott's eyes widened, and Lydia looked like she was thinking it over. "It would be a good cover. Who would believe that the sweet, innocent, shy English teacher could be a cold-blooded killer? The bird attack at the school, and the attack in the boiler room could just be a freak coincidence, but that doesn't explain why Derek went to _her_ for help instead of Deaton of his uncle when he couldn't find one of us."

"What do you mean?" the Sheriff asked. "Why _wouldn't_ he go to her for help?"

"Well, obviously, he has trust issues," Lydia explained. "We've all known him for months, but he doesn't trust us completely. Me because I brought Peter back to life, Allison because she's an Argent, Scott because he keeps going behind his back, Peter because he killed Laura, Cora because he thought she was dead, Deaton I assume because he's always keeping something from us, and he doesn't exactly have to explain himself to his betas. At this point I doubt he even trusts himself... So why would he trust someone he met for no more than twenty minutes with his life?"

"If that's true that she's the darach, then she could have been watching us all from the beginning. She probably knows exactly who we are," Scott pointed out. He let that sink in for a moment, then said hesitantly, "I have some news, since we're sharing... I'm becoming an Alpha."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Stiles asked.

"Deaton said that I was a True Alpha. He said it was really rare, so it only happened every hundred years, but it was when a beta rose to Alpha based solely on the strength of their character instead of kiling another Alpha to gain their power."

"I've heard of it," Derek said, trying to push himself up. Stiles kept a hand on him in case he fell over, then helped him scoot closer. "My mom always told us there are three ways to become an Alpha: killing an Alpha and gaining their power, being born an Alpha the way Laura was, or being a True Alpha because you have natural leadership skills. I suspected that's what you were, Scott, when you wouldn't join my pack. A normal beta would have just submitted instead risking becoming an omega." Derek took a shaking breath, then continued, "But that means Deucalion isn't here for me."

"He's here for me," Scott confirmed.

***

The Sheriff forced everyone to go home or stay and sleep after Scott's confession. Not only did he have a lot to think about, but the kids had just lost a friend. Scott and Isaac went back to Scott's house, and Lydia decided to stay because she didn't want to be alone.

Stiles gave him hardly any chance to protest before he dragged Derek up to his room, and they both went to sleep. That was something else the Sheriff had to think about. He wasn't really sure how he felt about his underage son being in a relationship with man - who was apparently a supernatural creature - that was six years older. Stiles had assured him, though, that they weren't technically breaking any laws because Derek refused until he was eighteen. It wasn't that hard to figure out that he didn't want to repeat his own history, which was confirmed when Derek mumbled that he wasn't Kate.

For now, everyone was safe - if only for a few hours - and in the morning the Sheriff would go talk to the vet and Melissa to try and get further caught up with what was going on in his town.

**Author's Note:**

> Criticisms are always welcome... I also accept cupcakes.


End file.
